The Long Way Home
by Wichita29x
Summary: AU. "Your boyfriend must be incredibly lucky." Haymitch poured oil onto the fire. "That you are always thinking of him." Trembling with rage, her body and soul came back to life. Katniss straightened herself, set her chin and looked defiantly into the glittering, mocking eyes of her professor.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note: All of my stories are based on the movies/actors, not on the books._

* * *

 **The Long Way Home**

Chapter 1

Professor Haymitch Abernathy from the University of Richmond was on his way home, or trying it at any rate. Sitting in his rusty car he was stuck in an endless traffic jam leading up the freeway. It was the day before Thanksgiving and the whole country seemed to be gearing itself up for roast turkey, pumpkin pies and family hugs.

He couldn't care less.

Two miles before, the flickering display of his dashboard had told him that the remaining fuel wouldn't be enough to get him home. Cursing, he ran a hand through his longish hair, keeping an eye out for the next petrol station along the road.

Passing a poor-looking hitchhiker with a crumpled cardboard sign in their hand, Haymitch was able to read the name of his small, meaningless hometown in Kentucky. He laughed wryly and wished the pitiful hitcher all the best in snagging a ride home. As far as he knew, no one who had ever found their way out of Lynch felt the desire to head back.

After choosing between diesel and gasoline, his bored gaze moved back towards the hitchhiker at the roadside. Judging by the long braid under the black baseball cap, it must be a woman, although he could hardly tell from her worn out and bulky clothes.

As he pushed his credit card into the machine, a battered Chevy with a group of young men had come to a stop next to her, inviting her to travel with them, but she wished them all to hell.

Colorfully.

Smart girl, Haymitch thought, screwing the fuel cap onto his old Mercedes while a light drizzle had started, falling icy into his face. Finally, his gaze fell on the bags piled near her on the turf. He was able to make out the crest of the University of Richmond.

So she must be one of his students, although her pale face told him absolutely nothing. This didn't surprise him as his students represented a faceless mass to him.

A long time ago, he had realized that it was far better for him to exchange only meaningless empty phrases with his pupils. He didn't want to get close to any of them.

As a result, he couldn't exactly be praised for being one of the most committed teachers on campus. Mostly he did his best to ignore his students or treated them with biting comments on their poor exam papers.

In order to bear the joyless days of his depressing life, he had started drinking. What had begun with a glass of delicate whiskey in the evening for relaxation had ended with a sip of cheap booze before attending his morning lecture. At some point, he had realized that his reputation among his colleagues didn't concern him anymore.

His grim gaze fell back on the young woman, who was talking to a dodgy character, trying his best to convince the girl to travel with him, and Haymitch asked himself how many people he knew who had managed to escape from the dark little mining town to find a better life for themselves.

As far as he knew, he was the only one.

"Professor Abernathy?" His student could hardly conceal her surprise as she looked through the open passenger window into the tired face of her college professor.

"I'm driving to Lynch," He offered and his gaze went to the empty seat next to him. "Do you want to join me?"

She didn't have to think twice about the offer. Even if her professor usually looked like he'd just spent the night in the gutter, her common sense told her that he was someone completely trustworthy. Before he could rethink his offer, she threw her bags onto the backseat of his car and flung herself next to him.

"What's your name again?" Haymitch asked, starting the engine.

"Everdeen. First semester." She answered, her voice cool and clear just as her serious intense eyes. "I am attending your lecture series on financial mathematics."

He glanced at the rain-soaked girl; neither her rigid face under the baseball cap nor her name told him anything. Well, he hadn't expected anything different. Haymitch nodded at her briefly and drove his car back into the traffic.

Not used to talk to many people in his dull life, he started a conversation, trying his best to show some interest in the young hitchhiker.

"Do you like our university?"

"It's good."

"Have you settled in yet?"

"Yes."

"Do you often travel by hitchhiking?"

"Sometimes."

"Could be dangerous..."

The young woman just shrugged and starred out of the side window.

Taking the hint, Haymitch gave up the stupid question-and-answer game. The girl had made it clear that she wasn't interested in having a conversation with him. Fine, it suited him perfectly. He couldn't stand chatty people at all.

Katniss's gloomy gaze stayed fixed on the boring landscape. Trees and yet more trees would be their companions for the next six hours. She was glad that her professor had finished the forced small talk after a few minutes. She wasn't interested in a superficial conversation. Nor did she wish to volunteer the sad story of her young life.

Many years ago, she had decided to live her life without any help. No one should know about the dreadful death of her father in a mine accident, and the health problems of her mother. She wasn't looking for any sympathy and still less for anyone to interfere in her family's affairs.

Last spring, she had received a scholarship and her initial joy was tremendous. But afterwards it had been very difficult for her to leave her home as well as her little sister and mother as she was used to care for them. Over the past few years, Katniss had done her best to earn some money by working as a waitress or a babysitter after school. But in the end it was never enough.

As a result, she spent more time cleaning tables in a fast food restaurant than attending her lectures on campus. She knew she was risking a lot with her behaviour, but she couldn't leave her loved ones without financial help. At the end of the month the money wasn't even enough for a bus ticket home.

To her deep regret, she had failed to find new friends. Most of the carefree and well-off students she had met found her unlikeable. She couldn't even name the reason for this, but since the death of her father six years ago, she had become more and more of a loner.

Sighing, her stoic gaze followed the endless road before her, and she wondered if it had really been a good idea to leave her shabby but familiar home.

The rain poured down from the dark sky and Haymitch wallowed in his own dark thoughts. Why he still travelled home after all these years, he didn't know.

His lips twisted in a bitter smile. Home. Even the word mocked him. No one waited for him anymore. No family, no woman, no children, not even a cat.

He played with the idea of taking a sip of whiskey from the flask inside his crumbled jacket. Then abandoned the thought after glancing at the young woman next to him. Haymitch was in no mood to contribute to any more snide gossip about himself.

Around midnight, they passed the boundary sign of the little mining town and Haymitch turned the car into a dark alley with broken streetlamps and toppled garbage cans. Some dogs barked far away, making sure to keep strangers away.

"That it?" He asked before turning off the engine in front of a small house. Katniss nodded slowly. All her bones felt stiff and sour, she wasn't used to sit nearly motionless for over six hours.

Watching the girl with tired eyes as she got out of the car, gathering her things in the freezing rain, Haymitch felt a need to give her something for the future, a word of advice.

"Everdeen!" He called through the open passenger window, his voice rough but caring. "Get yourself a can of pepper spray for your dangerous road trips!"

Katniss looked up and blinked, feeling the icy wind and rain on her cheeks, her sullen gaze fixed on the exhaustion-lined face of her math professor. She could see a deep crease between his brows, and his lips were pressed together in a hard line.

In another life, at another time, she would have given him a smile and would have thanked him for his concern. But the moment passed and the only thing she did was send a short cool nod in Haymitch's direction.

Five minutes later he entered his own dark house on the other side of the village. It was cold and abandoned and reminded him more of a grave than a home.

In the long, dark shadows of his study, an unfailingly patient friend was waiting for him; Mister Jack Daniels.

* * *

 _Thanks for 'Katniss & Haymitch – Come Along' on YouTube and Nine Bright Shiners brilliant AU Haymitch/Katniss story 'Hold Back That Night' for inspiration._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was the morning after Thanksgiving and the sun shone down on Haymitch's house. A couple of birds had made themselves comfortable on an old maple tree in front of his bedroom window, chirping their songs joyfully. If Haymitch had owned a shotgun, he would have killed the little beasts.

All of them.

With tremendous effort, he opened his eyes, it felt as if somebody had spread sand into them. The bright sunshine was even harder to bear than the trilling birds outside his window. Groaning, he put his forearm over his eyes and wished the fucking birds and the damn sun to hell.

He could hardly remember the last time he had had such an awful hangover. Maybe last Christmas? His personal nightmare of all goddamned holidays on earth. Wonderful when you were surrounded by a loving family and a real nightmare when you lived utterly alone.

He tried to lift his aching head off the pillows. Bad, bad idea, Haymitch figured out. Nausea crawled up his throat and he pressed his palms against his burning forehead, swearing to himself to never touch alcohol again.

His thin lips twisted in a bitter smile. Well, at least, he could try not to touch alcohol again until the sun had disappeared beyond the horizon.

Very slowly, he managed to sit up on the edge of the bed and fought against the feeling of vomiting. As his eyes glanced around the room, desperately searching for something to focus on, to keep the dancing spots in front of his eyes at bay, his gaze fell on an empty whiskey bottle on the wooden floor.

What the hell had driven him to drink so much last night? With both hands on his throbbing temples, his tired mind could not come up with a smart answer.

Finally, he was able to get up and shuffled down the stairs to his kitchen, wanting nothing more as to dip his aching head into a pot of black coffee for the next couple of hours. A brief glance from his bloodshot eyes into the old-fashioned coffee box confirmed his worst fears.

Completely empty.

Haymitch gave the metal container an annoyed push and ran his hand through his mess of greasy hair.

Shit.

He didn't even want to imagine what it would be like to live without coffee for the next three days. All the shops in the surrounding area were closed until Monday. So he could choose to travel twenty miles to the nearest petrol station to fetch some coffee-pads or visit the only remaining coffee shop in Lynch. With disgust, Haymitch chose the second option.

The small shabby coffee shop had seen better days. Probably when Haymitch was still a child or when his parents were. Nowadays, it was the sort of place where visitors should be certain that their last tetanus vaccination was still effective. He opened the door with a light push, greeted the old lady behind the counter with a nod of his head and went straight to the loneliest table.

For as long as the locals could remember, there had only been two dishes on the menu. Hamburger and steak. According to the greasy and worn-out card that lay in front of him, nothing had changed. Fortunately, Haymitch wasn't demanding. These last ten years, he had managed to survive off eating unhealthy cans, and as things looked, nothing would change in the upcoming decades. He could hardly remember the last time he had eaten anything healthy like vegetables or fruit, not that it would interest anyone, least of all himself.

"Have you decided, Sir?"

Haymitch raised his head and stared at the waitress.

"Professor Abernathy?"

He hadn't thought that his day could get any worse but it turned out it could. The last thing he needed was to run into one of his students – here, in the middle of nowhere. And then, finally, the memory of the previous evening hit him right between the eyes. He had given her a lift home. He cursed himself for so much stupidity.

Painfully, Haymitch realized that he must look as if he had spent the previous night gambling with rats in the gutter. The penetrating smell of alcohol enveloped him like a blanket and he wore the same wrinkled, filthy clothes from the day before. His throbbing head was hidden beneath a dark worn-out woollen cap and his untrimmed stubbly beard grew in every possible direction. He must look like a tramp who was desperately begging for food instead of the professor of an old eminent university.

All of this, he was able to read in Katniss shocked expression. In that bitter moment, Haymitch realized painfully what had become of him.

He was a wreck.

An alcoholic who was mentally and physically addicted. Someone who didn't give a damn about other people and – what was even worse – didn't give a damn about himself anymore. He could hardly remember a day in the past ten years when he had managed to stay sober for just a single day. Why his abused liver had not refused the service, he had no clue.

Deep down, he was glad that he had seen his entire family buried over the years. He wouldn't have been able to bear their disappointment over his wasted life.

"Is everything all right, Professor?" Katniss's shocked voice brought him back to the present.

No.

"Yeah." Haymitch tried to look as casual as possible. As if his desolate appearance was perfectly normal on a Friday morning in Kentucky.

Well, maybe it was.

"Did you have a nice holiday, Miss Everdeen?" He asked nonchalantly while his hands started playing with the menu card.

Katniss swallowed and tried to smile. She failed completely and instead a sullen look appeared on her face. Thanksgiving had turned into a nightmare. Her family had been overjoyed to have her home again and envelop her in their arms, but her mother's next mental breakdown had followed shortly afterwards.

Although her mom barely managed to get out of bed and mostly stayed at home, she adamantly refused to take her prescribed antidepressants. Katniss and her younger sister had tried desperately to change her mind – without success. So her mother started crying without giving any reason or gazed endlessly at the blank wall opposite her bed.

"Thank you, it was very nice." Katniss's eyes were fixed on her writing pad. "May I have your order, please?"

He could easily tell she was lying through her teeth. Such a beautiful face, Haymitch thought, but such an incredibly bad actress. She had made a good decision to study economics instead of theatre. With her obvious lack of talent she would have starved to death.

"A pint of coffee and a steak to follow."

"Fine. Thanks for your order." She said stoically, his little joke didn't make any impression on her. Katniss rescued the twisted menu card from his fingers and slotting it back into the table stand.

Haymitch gaze followed the young woman briefly as she turned and walked over to her other guests, and he wondered what had happened to her in the past to make her so cold and unapproachable.

How old could she be, twenty, twenty-one, and Haymitch remembered the time when he was her age.

Back then, it was the best time of his life. He was the first in his family who had been able to leave the poor countryside to study in the capital of Virginia. After arriving on the campus, he had fallen deeply in love with the cleverest and cheekiest student. Up until that moment, he hadn't known that it was possible to be so madly in love with someone. Suddenly everything, had seemed possible.

"But no happiness lasts forever." A cruel inner voice said "Does it, Haymitch?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Overnight, a light layer of snow had turned Virginia into a charming winter landscape, and millions of precious snow crystals were glittering in the sun. Two men were standing on the driveway in front of a small Victorian house on University ground. Neither of them had eyes for the mesmerizing scenery around them.

"Haymitch, please!" Said an insistent voice. "Rethink my offer."

"No, Chaff." Haymitch answered briefly.

"Anything is better than spending Christmas alone." Chaff didn't give up.

Determined, Haymitch kept on packing his old suitcase and travel bags into the trunk of his car.

"A short trip to Bermuda will distract you. What do you think you will be doing all that time, alone in your house in the middle of nowhere?" Chaff ran his hand over his eyes and played his last remaining card. "Haymitch, please, how much longer do you want to grieve for?"

Forever.

Haymitch Abernathy paused for a moment and gazed over the glittering snow. Deep inside, he knew that his only remaining friend was right. How many times had Chaff found him, passed out on the floor, totally drunk? He didn't know it. Nevertheless, he had stayed with him when all others had turned away. Haymitch sighed sadly and run his hand through his shaggy hair, without a drink he was not ready for that kind of conversation.

"Chaff, I am sorry. I cannot, maybe next year…" He added lamely.

"You won't even try!" Chaff pointed out, he feared that the day was no longer far away, when Haymitch wouldn't wake up from one of his drunken nights.

"Listen, my friend." Chaff walked toward Haymitch, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Try to fall in love, it could work miracles."

Haymitch snorted, trying his best not to roll his eyes, he couldn't believe in a fairy tale happy ending anymore.

"Have fun in Bermuda, write a postcard!" Haymitch forced a thin smile on his face and got into his Mercedes.

Chaff raised his hand in greeting and watched as the old car slowly rolled down the driveway. Worriedly, he shook his head.

…

Katniss Everdeen stood next to the main road, her gloved hands holding up her cardboard sign. Despite her lined winter jacket and the bobble hat her sister had knitted her, she was freezing tremendously. So far, luck wasn't on her side.

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and no one seemed interested in giving a poor-looking hitcher a free ride home. Katniss sighed, she had to believe in her luck, and unfortunately, that wasn't her strongest quality.

The young woman gazed at her worn-out travel bags on the snow. She had spent all her hard-earned money on Christmas presents; a beautifully written and hand-illustrated plant book for her mother and a rare vinyl record for Prim. Again, no money had been left for a bus ticket home or even a can of pepper spray.

Pepper spray.

Katniss rolled her eyes, as she remembered that evening, when her professor had given her that advice. For a while she had considered asking him if she could travel home with him. In the end she had dismissed it as a stupid idea. She certainly didn't want to be in his debt.

Or rather, she didn't want to be in anyone's debt. Katniss hadn't even dared to ask her best friend to drive over and pick her up. Either way, she would be damned if she showed up at home without any presents for her loved ones. She had sworn to be responsible for a proper Christmas this year, one which would include presents, a decorated tree and stuffed turkey.

She just had to get home.

Haymitch spotted her from a distance. Fashion was definitely not his specialty, but such a ridiculous rainbow-colored bobble hat as his student was wearing was put on for only one reason; love. True love. Probably she had received this ugly cap from her boyfriend as a gift on their first anniversary. At least Katniss could not be overlooked in the icy winter landscape.

He had certainly not planned on taking anyone along with him on his way home, but perhaps this could be his good deed for the upcoming year. If he gave her a free ride home he could act like a jerk to everybody for a year. Haymitch's lips twisted into a bitter smile; it could be worse.

Patiently, he was waiting for the traffic lights to change to green, as he saw a white truck come to a stop next to the young woman. To Haymitch's great astonishment, and much greater horror, Katniss took her travel backs and climbed into the truck without any hesitation.

The flash of red tail lights, was the last think he saw, before the truck disappeared into the twilight.

The darkness crawled slowly over the dull landscape and Haymitch tried his best to free himself from his joyless thoughts. He asked himself how good the chances were of arriving safely home as a female hitcher. According to his best guess they were about one percent.

Haymitch sighed and cursed himself for thinking about her. He was not responsible for her careless behaviour. There was no relationship between them, they were no relatives, no friends. Nothing.

If he repeated this over and over again as a mantra, he would start believing it.

Maybe.

As he turned the radio on, his gaze fell on the car in front of him. It was the same white truck into which Katniss had disappeared hours ago.

As far as he knew, he wasn't suited to be a hero. Surely he would not dare to do something stupid like force the truck to stop. He knew how such things ended. Usually fatally. The best solution for the moment was to drive behind. If the driver didn't turn toward Lynch, he could still contact the police. This was rational thinking, worthy of a university professor.

But, what if there were more than one driver in the truck? Maybe two or three? The young woman would be absolutely helpless...

Before Haymitch knew what he was doing, he stepped with full force on the accelerator and overtook the white truck on the left lane and, with squealing tires, came to a stop before the van. The truck driver slammed on the brake pedal and the truck came to a stop a few meters behind Haymitch's rusted Mercedes. Jumping out of the car, he ran to the truck's door and tore it open.

Two pairs of eyes stared back at him. A pair of cool, dark, that he already knew, and pair of older blue, which glared at him. Both women had raised their hands in terror, prepared to be assassinated by a madman at any moment.

Both women?

What did the statistics say about the ratio of female truck drivers? Certainly the chance of meeting one stood at minus one percent. This minus one percent was glowering at Haymitch so furiously, he felt like she was ready to split his skull with an axe at any moment.

"Professor Abernathy?" Katniss's voice swung between horror and bewilderment.

"I am gonna _kill_ you! We almost _died!_ Are you stoned?"

It is a very special moment when you realize that you have made a complete and utter fool of yourself. Haymitch knew that this matchless moment, here on the highway between Virginia and Kentucky, would never be bested in his whole life. As if in slow motion, his thoughts went to Chaff, who was now in Bermuda with a cocktail in his hand.

A voice brought him back to the unhappy present. "Professor Abernathy?"

"You know him? Fuck you! Fuck you both! Piss off right now, or I will _kill_ you!"

In a single movement, the angry truck driver tossed Katniss's bags out of the driver's window.

And before she knew what was happening, Katniss Everdeen stood in absolute darkness on the highway number 81, starring in disbelief at her university professor.

"What…why did you do that?" Her voice revealed her strongly suppressed anger.

Running his hands over his burning eyes, he searched desperately for the right words.

"Listen, I saw you climbing into the truck, sure that wasn't the best idea, and then..."

"... and then you thought it would be a good idea to – what? Save me?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

Haymitch took a deep breath, he had shown concern and compassion. Two things he thought he didn't possess anymore. And this was the result; scorn and anger.

"You know what?" His voice could cut glass. "Go to hell!" He spat, turning on his heels and marched to his car.

Slightly embarrassed, she threw a glance after him. What did she know about her Professor? Nothing. She rarely met him on campus, and when she saw him, his gaze was mostly stoically fixed on the ground. Not unlike herself. It was still the best way to avoid talking to other people.

There was a rumour around that he had a drinking problem. Though Katniss had no interest in any kind of gossip, it was obvious; his movements were usually unfocused, distracted, and a light smell of alcohol surrounded him. Usually late at night, when he pulled up, weary and slightly drunk at the drive-through at the fast food restaurant she worked at, she pressed always the same order into his hands; burger, soft drink, French fries. It never changed.

She didn't know anything about him. And he didn't know anything about her either. Nevertheless, he had done something remarkable for her. He had saved her.

Katniss Everdeen said two words which she used so seldom that it sounded strange to her own ears.

"Thank you."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"... I can only appeal to your hearts, my dear viewers; all the cleaning equipment we are showing you today are top-of-the range in practicality, whether it's a floor cleaner to mop your kitchen with, or something fancier to polish your precious parquet…"

Lying on his couch, Haymitch watched the TV program as if he was paralyzed. At last, he knew why his life was a downward spiral; he lacked the optimal household cleaner for true happiness. Sales TV was pure magic. It was impossible to look away, it was like watching a gruesome traffic accident on the highway.

Until now, Haymitch had done very well at his Christmas holidays. He hadn't drunk himself unconscious, nor had he collapsed somewhere in the house. For him, his alcohol consumption over the last two weeks had been very moderate. His inner voice - which he tried to ignore – knew the reason.

Katniss Everdeen.

Each time her name appeared unintentionally in front of his eyes, his blood burned with anger. He wasn't in the mood to see her or even hear her name again, until the very end of the semester break.

Rubbing his burning eyes, he turned the TV off.

While happy families were now setting the table for lunch and Chaff was most likely flirting with some woman in some bar in Bermuda, Haymitch decided to go through the examination papers he'd neglected these past weeks.

With his old, grey bathrobe over his pyjamas, he shuffled into his study and looked ill-temperedly at the tall stack of papers on his desk. He took the first sloppily written exam paper in his hand. Whoever the author was, this student wouldn't be receiving any extra marks for beautiful handwriting. His gaze fell on the name in the top right corner.

Haymitch took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He could hardly suppress the urge to crumple the test paper in his hand and throw it into the corner of his study as he had read her name. Calm down, he told himself, everyone, even the most disliked student should get a fair chance.

Still wrapped in thoughts of vengeance, he fell into his comfortable leather office chair, put his feet on the desk and pulled out one of his countless red correction pens. Revenge was not a nice word, Haymitch knew, but in the end a university professor was just a human being, wasn't he?

Lost in thought, he ran his hand over his stubble. In his right hand, he still held the correction pen and until now he had not written a single note on the poor work. As far as he could see, everything was wrong - apart from her own name, he recognized with a twisted smile.

His student had completely failed.

Why?

He knew how easily a scholarship could be squandered and if, after this desolate performance, another followed, some other penniless pupil would be given the opportunity to study at Richmond. And Katniss Everdeen would be out of the game.

…

Haymitch parked his car in front of a small house in one of the poorest areas of Kentucky. He could easily make out the peeling paint on the window shutters, the missing roof shingles. The other houses on either side of the street didn't look any better. Nothing new for him, he had grown up in similar surroundings.

He was on his way to the young woman to wake her up, to show her that it was worth fighting for her future. His hands were buried deep in his coat pockets as he walked through the snow towards the house. Before Haymitch could even ring the bell, the door was wrenched open by a young girl. A glance into her bright eyes told him that one day she would break many young men's hearts. Probably Katniss Everdeen's younger sister, although, Haymitch couldn't see any resemblance.

"Have you come to see us?" The girl asked with delight.

"Yeah, do you have an older sister, Katn….?"

"Yes, of course." She gave him a smile. "Katniss, you have a visitor." She shouted back into the house.

"Are you a friend from Richmond?" The girl asked with curiosity "My sister never tells me anything about what it's like there and ..."

"Primrose, stop asking people like that, it's rude." Katniss appeared in the doorway, and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw her professor. "What do you want?" She snapped suspiciously.

"Katniss." The girl turned towards her sister, embarrassed. " _You're_ rude!"

Suppressing the hint of a smile, it came to Haymitch's mind that the young girl was the total opposite of her sister. She was likeable.

Katniss took a deep breath and asked her sister, with as much courtesy as she could muster, to go back into the house. After the teenage girl had disappeared, Katniss's cold gaze went back to her college professor.

"Yes?" She asked briskly.

Haymitch cleared his throat. "I have looked at your last exam papers..."

"And?" She folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Everything you wrote is completely wrong. Maybe you could explain to me why you have failed?" He demanded.

A dangerous glitter appeared in Katniss's eyes.

If everything weren't so tragic, Katniss would have laughed out loud. Where should she begin, that she couldn't sleep at night, worried about her little family? That there was a mortgage on the shabby house which she could never pay back, that she worked more in her free time than was good for her studies, that she lived in constant worry that her sick mother would swallow one too many sleeping pills or that the welfare services would take her little sister away?

The dangerous glitter in her eyes changed into a glimpse of despair. If Haymitch had blinked, he would have missed it. But he had not blinked, so he was able to catch that rare moment of vulnerability in her snow-white face.

Katniss lips started trembling with anger and the only word she managed to force was a short "No."

"Didn't understand the topic?" Haymitch probed, unflinching.

"I understood the subject, Professor." She said with a cool voice.

"You will lose your precious scholarship with this kind of behaviour. Do you really want that?"

"Professor Abernathy, it's very nice of you to worry about me - for whatever reason - but I am an adult and I am more than aware of my behaviour."

Haymitch sighed and his expression changed from worry to resignation.

"Do you know what your problem is, Miss Everdeen? Your arrogance. This false pride will one day be your downfall." With those harsh words, he turned on his heel and went back to his car.

Katniss Everdeen stood in the doorway, struggling with herself. Arrogance? She had decided to study to help her family. Out of compassion, out of love.

She took a deep breath and conceded herself beaten for the moment. "You won!" Her own words ached in her ears. "What should I do?"

"Tutoring. This afternoon. Three o'clock at my place." He replied without turning around.

Katniss tried to hide her surprise. "Your address?"

"Ask Google Maps!"

…

Katniss didn't know what she had expected, but certainly not this. Her surprised gaze fell on Haymitch's architecturally outstanding home. It was built on the outskirts of Lynch, on the most beautiful side of the small mining town, with an impressive view over the valley. A bright white wooden fence surrounded the large garden. How many people would live in this mansion? Until now, Katniss hadn't seen her professor as a family man, but this house screamed family.

Katniss walked quietly up the driveway and rang the bell. Footsteps approached the door, and she prepared herself to look into the lovely eyes of Mrs. Abernathy and her brood of children at the next moment.

But instead of a delightful swarm of kids, she found herself looking into the grumpy face of her professor. He looked as if he had just fallen out of bed.

"Miss Everdeen?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What do you want?"

"We have an appointment." Katniss pointed out. "It was your idea!"

"Mine?"

"Yes, yours." Katniss frowned. "You wanted to give me a private tutoring lesson. Did you forget about it?" She added coolly.

After meeting her, he had fallen asleep with a bottle of whiskey on his chest in his beloved TV chair. The last thing he needed now was to teach the basic concepts of economic mathematics to his most stubborn, bad-tempered student.

But she was right, it was his very own glorious idea.

"Okay, come in." Haymitch said, turning and shuffling towards the kitchen.

Katniss entered the hall and her gaze roved around bluntly. Whoever had furnished this house, they had definitively proven taste. Everything was classic, elegant; in a word, timeless. From the bottom of her heart, Katniss could say that this could never have been the accomplishment of the person who had her just opened the door.

As she hung up her coat, her gaze went to the clothes in the wardrobe. She could only see a dark, worn-out men's coat, no funny, colourful children's jackets were to be found, much less a woman's coat. Katniss had to wonder if her professor lived alone in this huge house.

"Would you like a coffee or do you prefer tea?" Haymitch called from the kitchen. "I've got black tea, fruit tea, Christmas tea… no sorry, that one's out-of-date, maybe you…"

"Fruit tea, any kind, I don't care." Katniss shouted back.

She turned around in the hall and her eyes were dazzled by a tasteful modern chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. No, there was no family here, and what was even worse, there had never been anyone. No woman and certainly no children.

…

An hour later, Haymitch wondered self-critically whether he was such a bad teacher, or whether his student simply had no interest in what he was writing on the old chalkboard. So far, he had explained the same calculation to her three times, asking her for a solution, and getting a wrong answer every time.

He felt a strong desire to pull Sleeping Beauty by her long dark locks, and wake her from her reverie.

"Miss Everdeen, are you listening to me?" Haymitch stood next to the board, put his hands on his hips and shooting her a long, annoyed glance.

Guiltily, Katniss looked up from her notes and peered into Haymitch's clear blue eyes.

"Sure," She said slowly, her eyes shifting from her professor to the notes on the board. The figures meant absolutely nothing to her.

"Fine." She could hear the dripping mockery in his voice. "Then please, repeat my last words." An arrogant grin appeared on Haymitch's face. "Here, on the blackboard."

He threw the chalk in her direction, and to his great surprise, Katniss was able to catch it with a quick movement.

Her gaze fell slowly onto the marker in her hand, as if she did not know what to do with it. Finally, she rose from the wooden chair, and rounded the desk to get to the board on the wall.

Haymitch's arrogant smirk was frozen on his face as he watched her. So far, she had stolen an hour of his life. He wasn't in the mood to play this game any longer. She should prove that she was worth his time.

"I'm sorry, what...what was the question?" Her gaze was still aimed straight at her hands.

"Well," He said very slowly, as he leant back against the cold wall of his study and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes wandered around the room, affectedly, as if he was thinking her question over. "I would say, it was about costing."

She swallowed hard, feeling paralyzed. The numbers started dancing in front of her eyes and her ears roared from his mocking words. Lack of sleep and her constant fear about her small family had finally worn her out.

"Your boyfriend must be incredibly lucky." He poured oil onto the fire. "That you are always thinking of him."

Trembling with rage, her body and soul came back to life. Katniss straightened herself, set her chin and looked defiantly into the glittering, mocking eyes of her professor.

"How dare you! What do you know about my life?" She snapped at him. "Nothing, absolutely nothing!"

"I know what I see, and I see that you don't make any effort!" His harsh voice reflected all the anger and disappointment of the past hour.

"I am doing my best!" Katniss raised her voice threateningly.

Haymitch pushed himself off the wall and took a challenging step toward her. "You are? So tell me, girl, why I haven't noticed it!"

Furiously, Katniss slammed her fists on Haymitch's old desk and leaned in. Both opponents had licked blood and were ready to jump at the other's throat. Her glowing eyes had fixed his, and he realized that if her look could kill, he would already be lying on the floor. Bleeding to death.

"Because…" Katniss's lower lip began to tremble.

"Yes, Miss Everdeen?" Haymitch's voice was adamant, and he noticed that his fingers had begun to twitch. He could hardly suppress the desire to grab her roughly on her arm and bring her to awareness. "I am waiting for your answer!"

Like a wild animal, Katniss had been driven into a corner, and the only thing that came to her mind was to escape. She wanted to run out of this house into the forest and to hide away until she froze to death. Everything, would be over. No worry, no grief, no pain.

At a single blow, her eyes lost their focus and a tear-veil lay over them as the profound hopelessness of the last few years finally broke out. Before Haymitch's eyes, the proud, cool, unapproachable Katniss Everdeen raised her hands before her face and collapsed crying on her knees.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment, all his arrogant, insulting words, grieved him deeply. Exhaling softly, Haymitch moved to Katniss and dropped to his knees beside her. Very gently, he stroked the long, dark locks of the poor young girl shaken by crying fits.

"Everything will be all right, sweetheart."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"She is such a great woman!"

"Yeah."

"And so smart," Chaff added.

"Sure," Haymitch replied, absent-minded.

"She's just separated from her husband," Chaff pointed out.

"You don't say," Haymitch answered, bored.

Both men were sitting at a table on simple plastic chairs in the university canteen. While Haymitch's hands played with a cup of black coffee, Chaff had chosen a soft drink.

"She would be perfect for you." Chaff didn't hold back his enthusiasm. "A dentist, nearly the same age as you, with two lovely children. You could have your own family overnight."

Since his return from the Caribbean, Chaff had tried to match Haymitch with an endless flow of attractive single women. Apparently his friend had decided to get him married by the end of the year. So far, Haymitch had said yes to a blind date with a distant colleague of Chaff's. The evening had not exactly been a disaster, but sparks didn't leap either.

Afterwards, Haymitch had politely turned down her invitation to a midnight coffee; he was not after meaningless sex and certainly not with the idea in his mind that Chaff was perhaps a little bit more than just a platonic friend to her.

"Do you know what a dentist earns, Haymitch?" Chaff added conspiratorially. "According to Forbes she must be rolling in money, trust me, she would be a real hit!"

Haymitch's gaze fell on the well-known dark hair of Katniss Everdeen, who walked into the small cafeteria, a couple of books in her slender arms.

"Yeah, Chaff, she would be a hit." Haymitch replied, his eyes still on Katniss as he took a sip from his coffee.

"Very good. I knew I could convince you." Chaff beamed. "I will arrange a date for you next Saturday."

Haymitch groaned and looked over the edge of his paper cup at his friend.

"But before meeting her, you have to change your neglected look."

Haymitch raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Your unkempt stubble must go before the date."

"What?"

Pretending not to hear his friend, Chaff continued, "The best thing would be if we were to change your whole look. Your hair must come off, completely, radically. I guess we should give you a smart business look, more suitable to your age."

"Chaff – what? –"

"We also need an interesting hobby for you. What about paragliding or white-water rafting?" he continued, determined. "And do not dare to tell her that your only remanding hobby is reading, or she'll think you're completely boring, and I guess she'll figure that out for herself soon enough."

With every new comment, Haymitch's gaze darkened.

"And your car, which looks like it's due to break down at any moment… sorry Haymitch, but you must replace it. I thought a sports car would do it. A silver Porsche would be just the thing to impress women and –"

"Stop that nonsense!" Haymitch snapped, staring at his friend, horrified. "Ok, maybe I have no fashion sense, maybe I'm boring, but why should I change myself for a woman I don't even know? If she likes me, then she likes me the way I am."

Chaff laughed humourlessly and hit Haymitch on his broad shoulder.

"Welcome to the present, my friend." He sighed. "If you want to impress an amazing woman you have to try harder. With your wooden charm alone we'll never find you anyone, believe me."

"Sorry, Professor Abernathy, do you have a minute?" A clear young voice spoke from behind Haymitch's back.

Still glaring at Chaff, he turned slowly around. "Sure. How can I help you?"

The psychology professor realized that he was no longer welcome. But before leaving, he hissed a "Saturday evening, sober." at Haymitch and walked stiffly away.

Katniss waited patiently until Chaff was out of sight before sitting in his empty chair.

"Professor Abernathy, I..."

"Haymitch," He said casually.

"Excuse me. Haymitch," She replied gravely and pulled a dark lock back behind her ear. "I didn't know if it was ok for you, here on university ground."

Haymitch shrugged his shoulder; he didn't care much about his remaining colleagues anymore.

She glanced at her hands nervously. Small wrinkles had appeared on her forehead and her full lips pressed together tightly. From her behaviour he could easily tell she searched for the right words.

"Well, Haymitch." She swallowed, still looking at her fingers. "I would like to say thank you for everything you have done last winter."

"You're welcome," He answered genuinely with a slight smile on his face.

"Without your help and encouragement, I would have simply given up," She continued. "Your idea about a study partner was the right decision. It's so much easier to follow all the lectures now."

"I'm really glad to hear that." He kept the fact to himself that her last test was not brilliant either, but at least she had passed. After teaching pupils for nearly twenty years, he had learned to be thankful for the small improvements.

"Well." He cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "Actually, your learning partner is by far one of the best students at Richmond."

"Yes, and one of the nicest," She added. Finally, her gaze left her twisted fingers and found his eyes.

After she'd collapsed in his house, he had spent the next few hours calming her down. At some point, her flood of tears dried up out of pure exhaustion. Sitting stoically on the wooden floor of his study, knees under her chin, her rigid gaze down on her hands, she had told him in a monotonous voice about the tragic accidental death of her father and her mother's inability to care about her children anymore. About her desperate struggle over the past years to keep everything together as well as she could, and her deep concern for her younger sister. And finally, on top of everything, her fear of failing her studies.

It had hurt him deeply to see her like this, devastated, totally exhausted. At some point, Haymitch had considered taking her in his arms to comfort her, but a close look in her rigid face had told him that so much physical closeness wouldn't be welcome.

Watching the snow falling heavily in his backyard, long after the sun and Katniss had disappeared, he decided to establish contact with one of his students from a senior semester. A study partner would help Katniss come out of her lonely shell and his choice, Peeta Mellark, with his positive, calm manner would be the perfect counterpart to the always tense and gloomy Katniss.

"Katniss, listen a second." Haymitch cleared his throat and ran his hand uncertainly over the back of his neck. "I'll be travelling home next week for the semester break, so if you want to join me –"

"Thank you very much. But Peeta already offered to give me a ride home. He's visiting his aunt near Kingsport and he'll take me with him until Lynch. That is luck, isn't it?"

"Sure." Haymitch crossed his legs and glanced at his now-cold coffee, trying to conceal his disappointment. "That is luck. Indeed."

As she rose from the uncomfortable plastic chair, Katniss stretched out her slender hand to say goodbye. "I wish you happy Easter holidays, Haymitch, see you in two weeks." Catching the hint of a warm smile in her eyes, he took her hand gently to squeeze it.

With swift, firm steps she walked away from him and his thoughtful gaze followed her until she was out of sight. Maybe he'd done a little bit too much…

…

Haymitch Abernathy twirled his teacup slowly. It was filled with the finest British tea in combination with the finest American whiskey. It was his personal interpretation of English breakfast tea and he enjoyed every sip of it. If he patented this creation, he could sell it to alcoholics around the world, he thought with a bitter smile on his thin lips.

A loud knock at his front door made him listen. His weekly order from the nearest supermarket had already been delivered hours ago. A second knock followed. Maybe the courier had forgotten something? Slowly, he rose from his wooden chair on his large terrace which overlooked the valley, and walked through his house to the front door.

"Katniss?"

Taken aback, he looked at the devastated girl at the foot of his steps. Her usually fine dark hair was a mess while her chalk white face was a stark contrast to her red wept eyes and Haymitch could hardly suppress the impulse to close her in his strong arms.

"What happened?"

"I..." Katniss said between sobs. "I've come to say goodbye."

Bewildered, he simply stared at her.

Wiping off the tears with the sleeves of her denim jacket, she continued, "My mother tried to kill herself last night."

"Shit!"

"We called the ambulance..." Katniss sobbed and his image was more and more blurred away by her tears. "The doctors took her with them and she must stay in the hospital and maybe she will never come back..."

With two long steps, he went to Katniss and took the trembling girl into his arms. Feeling deeply sorry for her. Life was not fair, never, and certainly not when you came from a meaningless, shabby mining town.

"I'm so sorry, Katniss," He whispered softly, as he gently stroked her dark long locks, trying to comfort her. "We'll find a solution. There is always a solution."

Truly, Haymitch?

As far as he knew, there was no answer for everything in life. The cosmic order had not planned a happy ending for everyone, unfortunately, and he was the living proof.

He could easily imagine what would happen next. The hospital would demand money, which Katniss didn't possess. So she would have to sell the small house, and without the house Katniss's sister would be homeless and without a mother or father. If Katniss went back to the university, her sister would be a case for the welfare services. As far as Haymitch knew his student, this was the last thing she wanted. Katniss Everdeen would sacrifice herself for the happiness of her sister. Always. Even if she had to cancel her scholarship.

"I'm gonna look for a job maybe I could work fulltime in a coffee shop or…" Her usual clear, strong voice sounded very small and desperate in his ears. "Or at a gas station, or..."

Haymitch sighed and tightened his embrace around her, burying his face into her long hair.

Sharing a cup of coffee in his kitchen last winter, she had told him that she sometimes went into the woods to hunt small animals with her late father's bow. On good days she managed to catch a rabbit or a turkey which she sold on the black market in a neighbouring town.

He could still remember the day she'd told him her little story. The way he'd felt, speechless with anger because of her stupid, mindless behaviour. Didn't she know that it was totally forbidden to run into the woods and kill wild animals? The local sheriff could lock her up for it in a second and she could say goodbye to her sister for a long time. How could such a smart girl behave so stupidly sometimes?

His gaze went to the clear blue horizon, while he held the sobbing girl in his arms. Katniss had buried her tear-stained face into his shoulder, desperately trying to stifle her sobs. No, he would never allow that she and little sister should waste their young lives in this abandoned place.

If someone asked him why he cared so much for her, he wouldn't be able to come up with a satisfactory answer.h a satisfactory answer.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

On the top of a gentle hill, the late afternoon sun was shining on a group of young birch trees. Beside the trees stood a man, dressed in black, his hands holding a bunch of white calla lilies. Her favourite flowers. The flowers of her wedding bouquet so many years before.

"Hi, honey."

Haymitch's gaze fell on the depressing, grey tombstone in front of him. His eyes scanned the inscription, as they had so many countless times before. Slowly, he went down on his heels and laid the delicate flowers carefully on the cold grave. His fingers stroked the cool, dark gravestone gently.

"Honey..." He cleared his throat, his tongue heavy, he barely knew how to start. "I'm no longer alone."

He felt as if he had done high treason.

"Everything started with..." Haymitch swallowed hard and searched for the right words. "I took one of my students on my way home to Lynch, later, her mother tried to kill herself and she doesn't have any money, or family, only a little sister with a cat, so I suggested…" His usually rough voice sounded beaten, broken to his ears, "That the younger sister could stay with me until a solution is found..."

Haymitch shook his head resignedly. Had he really travelled the long way up to Washington D.C. to ask his late wife for her permission to have a thirteen-year-old girl and her cat stay with him until her older sister had found a proper solution for their future?

It seemed so.

Why his wife had fallen in love with him, he still didn't know. Effie Trinket could have had any young man; she had been charming, attractive and full of life. There had been hardly anyone on campus who didn't turn their head around when she walked by in her fancily designed clothes. Compared to her, he was an uncultivated country bumpkin from a dump in the middle of nowhere. The only thing he had going for him was his sense of humour. He could make her laugh.

Always.

When they had literally run into each other in Richmond – fighting over the last remaining piece of cheesecake in the canteen – she had been a headstrong and independent young woman. Successfully, she had defied her wealthy parents who wanted her to study in Harvard instead of a small provincial university. She had taken it into her pretty head to reach her goal alone without the overwhelming influence of her father.

Therefore, a small town university was the perfect place for her architecture studies. Her timeless taste and designs were extraordinary and brilliant. Every teacher predicted a glorious, bright career and nothing seemed to stand in her way.

Nothing. Except fate itself.

He was still able to hear the cold, impersonal words of faceless doctors who told him that the tumour was inoperable and a treatment would not show any effect. Helplessly, he was forced to watch his young, beloved wife die. Slowly and painfully.

A cool wind had risen in the graveyard, brushing Haymitch's pale hair out of his face as he remembered the day when her life-supporting systems were finally turned off.  
Furious that all his money and influence had not saved the life of his only daughter, his father-in-law swore that Haymitch would never receive a single cent of the Trinket assets.

He still snorted at the memory; he'd never given a damn about the cursed money; nonetheless, the court of Columbia conferred the legal share of several million dollars on Haymitch. Until now, he'd barely touched it, using only a small amount of it to fulfil Effie's last wish, building her dream house after her own design.

There had been days in his life, when he had wished he had never built the mansion, that her brilliant plans had simply burned. Every time he walked through the front door, he was reminded that the future they'd dreamed of was lost forever.

Haymitch slowly rose and straightened, his eyes wandering over the countless graves that lay before him. One day, he knew, he would be by her side again. But should he not have a little piece of happiness before that day, he wondered?

…

Primrose Everdeen was a sensitive, friendly teenage girl. Her sole desire was to help. Everyone. She had been able to feel Haymitch's pain, the moment her gaze fell on his dark, bitter face, the forehead marked with deep worry lines.

Patiently, she had stayed in his car when he entered the churchyard. Primrose knew that she wasn't allowed to disturb him during this very private moment. She could only hope that he would find peace for his tormented soul. Just as she had done at the grave of her beloved father.

Getting slowly into the car, Haymitch was lost in depressing thoughts as he peered out of the windscreen.

"Do you know what always helps me when I'm feeling sad?" She asked gently.

"No." Haymitch sighed deeply and shifted his focus from the cemetery wall to Primrose.

"Kitten pictures of my Buttercup." She smiled wholeheartedly at him.

Without asking, she pulled her old mobile phone out of her jacket pocket and showed him a selection of pictures of her beloved kitty cat.

The only thing Haymitch could see was an ugly yellow cat with the eyes of Satan.

"He was so cute, wasn't he?" The girl beamed at him.

Although this cat had only lived with him for two weeks, that beast had already managed to scratch his curtains, dig out all his potted plants, and steal the precious Koi fish from the neighbour's garden pond. The 'sweet kitten' had bitten Haymitch's hands bloody, when he had received the doubtful honour of putting the nightmarish creature into its travel basket as they prepared to leave Lynch.

Cute was the last word in a long row which came to his mind when he was asked to describe this cat. He would propose; monster, beast, devil.

However, Haymitch couldn't help himself, he smiled lightly. He understood that Prim wanted to help in her own way.

"Cute," He lied through his teeth. "Really cute."

Haymitch started the SUV smoothly; he had bought the new car after successfully convincing Katniss to leave the small village together with her younger sister, thinking that now Prim was largely his responsibility he should make sure he was able to drive her to school without worrying about his car breaking down.

It had been a difficult and almost impossible task for Haymitch to convince her that she deserved so much more than a simple life in a shabby mining town. Finally, with a near endless succession of logical arguments and no small amount of persuasive power, he had managed to get her to move.

To avoid unpleasant questions, Haymitch had decided to tell everyone that Primrose was the daughter of his late cousin. The idea was not absurd, as most of the inhabitants of the small community of Lynch were related. If someone were to trace back the family trees of the Abernathys and the Everdeens, common ancestors would be unearthed within the last century.

A generous check helped him to find a private school for Prim. He was sure his actions would please Effie.

Haymitch cleared his throat. "Okay, Primrose..."

"Prim."

"Okay, Prim, any ideas for what we could do next weekend?"

For the last years, he had spent the weekends sipping whiskey behind closed curtains. With the arrival of the youngest Everdeen in his house, he had poured his remaining alcohol stock resolutely down the toilet.

As a show of gratitude, his body had sent him migraines and palpitations by return, along with even more trembling hands than before. Haymitch had received a ton of pills from his doctor, who explained that these symptoms of alcohol withdrawal were only temporary. He must agree to stay under medical observation for at least three months and also to start psychotherapy as soon as possible if he wanted to stay sober. Grudgingly, Haymitch had given in.

"We could go to the cinema, or the zoo..." Haymitch suggested lamely. He had not the slightest idea what was popular among teenagers nowadays.

"Oh, no." Prim laughed. "The zoo isn't that interesting anymore, most teenagers prefer hanging around in shopping malls all day." From the corner of her eye, she could see how Haymitch winced in his seat as he heard the word "shopping".

Delighted, she released him from his suffering. "You're lucky; I don't like malls. What about an afternoon of games? I know Katniss would love that."

Haymitch breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't play poker for a long time, it could be fun.

"Now it's your choice: Scrabble or Monopoly?" She beamed at him.

Haymitch swallowed hard and looked straight ahead at the road before him. If someone had told him last month that he'd be spending his precious Saturday afternoons playing Monopoly, he would never have believed them.

…

 _"I_ wanted Park Place," Prim complained.

"You've already got Pacific Avenue, little duck, you can't have all of them!" Katniss said kind-heartedly. It was always hard for her to deny her beloved baby sister anything.

All of them were sitting around the dining room table in his cosy house on campus, playing their second game of Monopoly. Katniss had won the first time and she was close to winning again.

Haymitch's ambition was set within modest boundaries, as he'd spent most of the current game in jail or locked into his own private war with the income tax. On his next go, his boot made yet another acquaintance with the unloved tax man and he was forced to hand over his last remaining dollars to the bank manager, Primrose Everdeen.

"Game over, I'm bankrupt," Haymitch announced as he leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

"Oh no, that can't happen! The bank granted you a generous credit of 4000 dollars," Prim said hopefully.

He had to smile; she was the nicest human being he had ever met. He wished her older sister had just a little bit of it.

"Thanks, but I'm out of the game." He rose to his feet and looked with a wink from one to the other. "May the best win."

As he passed Prim, he smirked at her conspiratorially and hissed, "Make her bleed!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Prim grinned back.

Katniss realized painfully that Prim and Haymitch had allied against her after knowing each other for only three weeks. She didn't much like this development. Her eyes followed her professor, who disappeared in the direction of the kitchen with a nearly-empty glass of water in his hand.

"Have you already settled in?" Katniss asked in a low voice so Haymitch couldn't hear.

"Yes, of course, my host is very nice."

Katniss raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Meaning what?"

Prim rolled her cornflower-blue eyes playfully. "I'm allowed to stay out till midnight and to hang around with boys…"

"What?"

Prim had to laugh as she looked into Katniss's horrified face.

"It was a joke!" She smirked, then answered more seriously. "We hardly spend any time together. He takes me to school in the morning; I come back by bus at four p.m. He corrects exam papers, I study in my room, well, that's it, nothing special..."

Katniss gave Prim a critical look.

"What else would you like to know? He makes sure the refrigerator is filled with healthy food, he gave me the nicest room in the whole house and he even tried to cook last Sunday." Prim giggled at the memory. "Unfortunately, he burned the home-made pizza, so we ended up at a Mexican Grill." She shrugged her shoulders. "He's nice and tries his best."

Katniss could see that her little sister was doing well. But why Professor Abernathy had changed his whole life for them, remained a mystery to her.

"What do you think, Prim? ... Why's he doing all this for us?"

"I have no idea." Prim shrugged her shoulders and smiled innocently at her older sister with her bright eyes.

…

It was late when Haymitch accompanied Katniss to the front door. A light spring rain had started, and Haymitch had insisted she travel home by taxi instead of walking.

"Haymitch," She began hesitantly as he opened the front door. "I would like to say thank you, for everything." Her gaze fell on her slender hands; she could feel her face heating up. She wasn't used to saying words like this to anyone. She took a deep breath before she continued. "Prim and I are forever in your debt; we'll never be able to repay you for everything you've done."

"Katniss, you don't owe me anything." Haymitch looked down at her, his voice grave, intense. "I'm the one who has to thank you."

Confused, with a light frown on her face she looked up into his clear eyes.

"I've never had a real reason to stop drinking. Now, thanks to being responsible for your sister, everything's changed." He swallowed hard, cleared his voice and shifted his gaze from her fine face to the wooden floor. "Who knows?" He shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "Maybe meeting you both has made me a better man..."

Katniss took a close look at him. She was aware of the small wrinkles around his eyes and the far deeper ones on his forehead. However, his usual tired face expression had changed in the last few weeks. She was able to see a small sparkle in his keen eyes. His former shuffling gait was lighter, straighter than before. He looked younger, rested, much better than when she'd met him for the first time several months ago at her first lecture. Stopping drinking did him good, she thought.

"Better?" Her voice reflected surprise. "I've never met anyone who is more generous or noble than you."

He stared at her, perplexed, and almost burst out laughing.

"Noble? Jesus, Katniss! What are you reading in your free time, the dictionary?" He had raised an eyebrow and was trying his best to sound as mocking as he could, but his shaking voice spoiled the effect.

As far as he knew, the words "noble" and "Haymitch Abernathy" did not go together. He was still able to hear the insulting words of his father-in-law, who had loved to remind him that he wasn't worth a single cent. Resolute, he shoved the painful memories away and thanked the young woman.

His gaze remained on her bright, dark eyes. Until now he had never met someone like her. She was a survivor, with a rare, unbreakable inner strength which kept her and her loved ones alive, and he realised at last that she did have a winning personality after all, a charm that was all her own – different from her sister's, but no less pleasing.

Gently, he raised his hand to her face and brushed back a dark lock of her hair, feeling the young woman tremble at his touch.

The dissonant sound of a car horn brought Haymitch back to the present. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and stepped away from his student.

Once more, the taxi driver honked his horn and the precious moment was over.

Haymitch took a deep breath, cursing himself for the mistake he had just made, and said a sharp and brief goodnight to Katniss.

Her confused eyes followed him as he turned on his heel and threw the front door into the lock with a bang.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Leaning casually against the countertop, Haymitch glanced at the cake on the kitchen table, and frowned. The small home-made cake, baked by Prim and himself, looked somewhat different than the counterpart in the baking book.

They must have forgotten something. In his mind, Haymitch went through the recipe list once more; eggs, flour, sugar, milk, baking-powder. Baking-powder?

He couldn't remember adding it to the dough. Maybe that was the reason the birthday cake looked so small and miserable. Haymitch groaned and ran a hand across his face.

"We should have bought a cake."

"No." Prim laughed. "Katniss will love her birthday cake; I know it. She'll appreciate what we've done for her."

Hopefully.

Just getting the right ingredients had given him a headache. Thanks to Prim's help, they had found a bar mixer and a mixing bowl in his kitchen. Until that moment, he hadn't even known that he owned any baking utensils.

In the centre of the petite chocolate cake stood a generous 21 in colourful icing, surrounded by countless small sugar flowers and butterflies.

"Wonderful," Prim beamed.

Kitschy, thought Haymitch.

"And I have a lovely present for her." She pulled out a pair of glittering, rainbow-colored gloves from her school bag, and placed them on the wooden chair next to her.

"Knitted by me, to match Katniss's hat," She added proudly.

Haymitch had to fight the urge to cover his eyes with his hands. Quickly, he made a mental note to get Prim an appointment with an eye specialist. He was slightly afraid that Katniss's younger sister was color-blind. At the soonest possible opportunity, he would point out that his preferred colours were black and grey. He had no wish to receive a rainbow-colored scarf on his next birthday.

"Unfortunately, I don't have a gift for Katniss," He admitted, crossing his arms over his chest. "What would she like? Any ideas?"

"I may know something," Prim answered mysteriously, smirking.

Haymitch's inner voice told him that he wouldn't like her answer.

"Dancing!"

Bingo.

"Dancing?" His eyebrows nearly met his hairline as he repeated the word with horror.

"Yes, dancing." Prim beamed back.

"Oh Prim." He groaned. "Trust me, for a Saturday night clubbing tour around town I'm far from the right person, but I'm sure if you were to ask someone younger, like Professor Odair…"

"No, Haymitch! Not a clubbing tour," The girl interrupted him, laughing. "A romantic dance, with a beautiful dress and –"

"Forget it!" Defensively, Haymitch raised his palms and stepped away from the kitchen counter. "I'm the least suitable person in the world for that sort of thing. Believe me, Prim, I'd turn the evening into a disaster."

"Haymitch, please!" Prim begged. "Do me this one favour. Katniss has never been dancing! Even her high school ball was an absolute disaster. Two days before the event, her date broke his hand, and later at the ball no one wanted to dance with her. No one asked her, not even once! Katniss was in tears when she came home." Prim's own eyes filled with tears as she remembered the awful evening not so very long ago.

"All these years, Katniss has taken care of me. Instead of hanging out with friends, she's always been working, or going hunting. The most important thing in her life has been making sure we had enough food on the table." Prim took a deep breath and looked at him pleadingly, both her hands clinging to the backrest of the kitchen chair for support. "If anyone deserves a little bit of happiness then it's her. Haymitch, please, do me this favour!"

Gravely, he looked down at the teenage girl; her beseeching eyes were full of hope. He didn't want to give in; rather he planned to talk his way out of this embarrassing situation. But on the other hand, he had to ask himself, what did he have to lose?

Nothing.

"OK."

…

From the large mirror on the wall, a pair of critical eyes looked back at Katniss, who stood in front of the glass. She was wearing a feminine, coral summer dress without sleeves and had her long, dark hair up in an elegant chignon. Prim's delicate work. Never hers.

She was still furious with her little sister. What had Primrose thought when she had made that appointment without even asking her? Dancing. Ha! What must her college professor have thought of her? That she was so utterly and desperately alone that she wanted to spend an evening in his company? It was so unflattering, not to mention embarrassing. She wondered if he felt as uncomfortable as she did.

Moreover, she couldn't dance. She has two left feet, and any attempt she's ever made at dancing ended with her feeling like a goose waddling around the floor. Of course she had tried to learn to dance, in an old barn behind her house. Her former best friend had done his best to show her easy steps, a mix of foxtrot and blues. But it had turned out to be hopeless; she could not move to the beat and looked the whole time worriedly down at her feet instead of into the face of her partner. After countless rounds, totally unnerved, Katniss had given up. Finally, not wanting to waste the rest of that raining afternoon, they had decided to practice other things.

She was still able to feel the straw prickling her bare ass; not even that had turned out the way she'd always imagined. Angrily, she shoved the memory away and turned a little in her dress. The broad, oval neckline emphasized her elegant, slender neck and the feminine belt her equally slim waist. The swinging, slightly flared skirt invited dancing.

Years ago, Katniss had bought the dress on a trip to Kingsport. Why? She couldn't explain it. Perhaps with the small hope in her heart that one day her life would change for the better and she would have the opportunity to wear the gorgeous dress.

There were days in her life when she took the dress out of the wardrobe, looked at it, shook her head angrily, and hung it back in the far corner of the cupboard. How stupid she had been to pour money down the drain.

But what was done was done. Katniss set her chin and straightened her back. She would survive this evening. For so long she had survived hunger, grief, loneliness. An evening in uncomfortable high heels wouldn't kill her. But when the night was over she would have a serious conversation with Prim. Sister or not, she had no right to interfere in her private life.

…

"No matter what she looks like," Prim said conspiratorially to Haymitch, "we'll say she looks gorgeous. OK?"

Haymitch gave a slight nod, his head turned towards Prim, who was sitting opposite him on the cosy sofa in his living room on campus. They were both waiting patiently for Katniss to appear.

"Trust me, Prim, I'll act like a real gentleman," He said with a crooked smile on his thin lips.

"And you know what a real gentleman acts like, Haymitch?" She asked, sounding as dry as a teacher at an old-fashioned boarding school for girls.

Haymitch rolled his eyes and smoothed his elegant dark blue suit as well as he could. After a critical inspection of his wardrobe by the thirteen-year-old, all his clothes had been judged as unsuitable. None of his old-fashioned but beloved Chino pants or his slightly worn-out plaid shirts had found redemption in her eyes.

Afterwards, she had dragged him into one of the most expensive clothing stores in town. The shop assistant had instantly made them out to be an easy target. In no time at all, Haymitch found himself wearing an elegant dark blue suit, with a matching shirt, a subtle tie in the same colour as the suit and a pair of fashionably cut dark shoes. Paying the bill, he had to take a deep breath; the label Hugo Boss seemed to have a significant effect on the price.

Haymitch ran his fingers along his collar; Prim had knotted the tie so tightly he felt he might suffocate. At the first opportunity he would get rid of it.

"If you have so little faith in me, why didn't you ask a student to accompany your sister? Someone like Peeta Mellark would have been very happy to spend the evening with Katniss," Haymitch countered.

Since the farewell on his porch a few weeks ago, Haymitch had decided to give Katniss a wide berth. He didn't want her to draw the wrong conclusions from his behaviour. As they waited for Katniss, he reminded himself that he was doing this for Prim. Nothing more.

"Because..." Prim didn't finish the sentence; both looked up at the sound of a door opening upstairs. Full of excited anticipation, they stood up and peered at the old oak staircase.

"Katniss!" Prim cried and ran with a radiant smile towards her older sister. "You look beautiful, magnificent, like someone out of a fairy tale!" Full of delight, the teenage girl clapped her hands.

"Haymitch, isn't she beautiful? Haymitch?"

"What?" He felt as if someone had struck him with a baseball bat.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Prim emphasized every syllable very slowly and looked at him insistently.

Haymitch swallowed hard and pulled himself together. Trying his best to keep his face motionless, he reminded himself that the young woman standing in front of him was his worst student. A girl who went hunting in the woods and killed helpless little animals with a bow. Most of the time, she was bad-tempered, defiant or simply arrogant. It was only Katniss Everdeen… Katniss Everdeen in a very flattering dress. Inwardly he sighed; he'd be glad when the evening was over. He tried his best to picture her boyish looks when she wore her old jeans and bulky hoodie.

He cleared his throat. "Not bad at all," He murmured. "We should go; the table's reserved for eight o'clock." Keeping his gaze down on the wooden floor, he passed Katniss and headed for the front door. Slightly puzzled, she threw a glance after him.

"I won't wait up for you, have a nice evening!" Prim shouted after them.

Haymitch wondered what those words might mean.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Katniss was shivering beside him.

"Here take my jacket," Haymitch offered kindly.

"No, thanks." She shook her head resolutely, crossing her arms and tucking her hands under them to find some warmth. "I don't need it."

"Oh, sweetheart." Haymitch sighed, pulling off his jacket and passing it to Katniss. "You're as stubborn as a mule."

Biting her tongue, Katniss accepted his jacket and pulled it around her slender shoulders. "I'm used to much worse," She pointed out, secretly cuddling into the fine woven fabric, grateful for its lingering warmth, recognizing that it smelled slightly of him.

"I know," He said simply and shifted his attention from Katniss back to the long rainy road.

An hour ago, the modern LED display of his SUV had turned black and his brand new car had stopped in the middle of nowhere. Baffled by the "hi-tech" engine, without the slightest hope of repairing the damage himself, he had finally called the breakdown service for help.

The rain was forming puddles on the freeway as Haymitch asked himself what he'd been thinking when he'd come up with the idea of travelling to Virginia's finest country club for nothing more than a dance. He should never have given in to Prim's childish idea. A couple of slow songs, played on his old CD player in his cosy living room would have done the job.

"What do you think, how long will it take before they find us?" Katniss asked, while her eyes followed the rain drops, pouring down from the sky onto the windscreen.

"Hard to tell." He shrugged and looked at her. Katniss had undone her chignon and her luxurious hair fell around her shoulders, framing her porcelain face. Her bare legs were tucked underneath her. He realised that she was doing her best to warm herself as she cuddled deep into the fabric of his jacket.

Carefully, he reached out his hand and faintly touched her long neck with his fingertips. She was as cold as ice. Totally astonished by his gentle gesture, Katniss looked up at him.

"You're freezing, girl. I'm fetching you a blanket from the trunk."

"No I'm fine, I'm not made of glass."

"That's for sure." He smiled slightly. "But I don't want any trouble with your little sister when I bring you home sick."

He reached for the car door, but her hand on his arm stopped him.

"What was she like?" Katniss asked, her dark eyes shifting carefully away from him.

"Who?" Haymitch asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Your late wife," Katniss said, her voice wavering.

He took a deep breath, running his hand through his light hair while a dark shadow passed over his features. Deeply sorry, Katniss glanced down at her cold hands; she knew she had crossed an invisible line. "I'm sorry, Haymitch, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, it's okay," He said faintly. "My shrink told me, talking about her would help." Haymitch shrugged, peering through the windshield, into the pouring rain, back to another time.

Finally he started talking, his voice more grave than she had ever heard it before. "She was kind-hearted, funny." Haymitch swallowed hard. "Effie could light up a room with her charm, making you feel that you can solve any problem in your life -"

Katniss nodded, her long locks falling over her pale face, hiding it.

"You must love her very deeply, that you started drinking because of her death," She said in a small voice.

He nodded slightly, keeping his eyes carefully on the road before him. Speaking might help, Haymitch thought, but he wasn't ready for it, at least not now and not sober. Gathering himself, he banished the pain, shoved it resolutely aside, and concentrated on the present.

"What about you?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Me?" Katniss looked up, puzzled.

"Yes. What are your plans for the future?" Haymitch asked with genuine interest. "Why are you studying economics? You should know; you're my worst student by far."

Katniss swallowed her pride, trying her best not to glare at him. Unfortunately, he was right; economics wasn't her field and never would be. "Well," She shrugged. "I thought it would be a good idea to find a well-paid job afterwards." She drawled the words as if she were looking for better ones. "As you know, my family needs every single cent we can get."

"Good idea, in theory," He pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "But if you keep up your dismal performance you'll never receive your Bachelor's."

"Any suggestions?" She looked at him, trying her best to imitate his critical glance at her. "Maybe more private lessons?"

"No." Haymitch's lips were twisting, a small smile appearing on them. "Have you ever considered studying sport?"

"Sport?" Katniss repeated, caught by surprise, her brows coming together. "Would that even be possible?"

In her dark eyes, he was able to see a new-found spark of life. "Not in Richmond of course," He explained, "but at other faculties along the coast. If you like, we could check, once we're home."

A faint smile appeared on her full lips, matching his as she nodded.

…

At last, the breakdown service found them and drove both to the nearest motel along the freeway. The shabby, simple motel wasn't the Four Seasons, but with its tiny coffee shop and old fashioned jukebox, it reminded Katniss of home.

She carefully opened the back door leading onto the large wooden porch. A couple of handmade lanterns illuminated the dark as she stepped outside, walking quietly towards the balustrade.

Haymitch was sitting alone on the steps, his hands holding a bottle of Coke. As Katniss leaned silently against the wooden balustrade, she could still feel his fingertips on her cold skin.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. Raising an eyebrow, he glanced up at her. "What happened to your shoes, sweetheart?"

Katniss rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I couldn't stand them, so I threw them in the garbage."

He smirked, unsurprised. "Did you consider that you'll catch a cold?"

"I don't care," Katniss said defying, looking down at him, straight into his clear blue eyes.

He shook his head and tried his best not to smile; she was as stubborn as the first day they had met. He couldn't help himself, he liked it.

"Come here." Haymitch nodded with his unshaven chin at the empty space by his side. He stretched out an arm, inviting her to draw warmth from him.

She blinked, slightly surprised by his behaviour, searching for a hint of scorn in his sharp eyes, but she couldn't find it. Finally, she made up her mind and pushed herself off the rail, walking swiftly towards him on her icy feet.

Blissfully, she cuddled herself close against his solid body, enjoying the unfamiliar nearness while his arm tightened around her, holding her close, holding her safe.

"Better?" He asked.

"Better," She said, laying her head carefully on his broad shoulder, allowing herself to relax for a moment.

Katniss's gaze went up to the glittering, shiny dots on an endless blue velvet map. It was soothing, she thought, that no matter where she was she could always see the same constellations. Slowly, she took the Coke out of his hand and drank a small sip.

"Do you see the bright star over there?" She pointed with the bottle towards the night sky, her cheek still resting on his shoulder. "That's the Pole star, it's always in the north, never moves. If you get lost and follow the star you will find your way home. Always."

Haymitch's glance followed Katniss's toward the glittering stars, wondering how it might be to spend a lifetime with a girl like her. Stubborn as hell but always honest.

From the coffee shop, the faint sound of an old jukebox appeared. Someone must have thrown a dollar into the machine.

"You still owe me a dance," He said and took the nearly empty bottle out of her hand, setting it down carefully on the wooden floor.

"Do I?" Reluctantly, she raised her head from his shoulder and looked up at him.

"Wasn't that the plan for tonight?" A grin appeared on his features. "Well, this old porch is not a ballroom but we have music and the moon is up in the sky…" He shrugged. "It couldn't be better."

His eyes held hers as he rose slowly and with an inviting smile on his face, he offered her his hand.

"Shall we dance, Miss Everdeen?"

Smiling back at him, Katniss took his outstretched hand and Haymitch pulled her up into his arms. He could see flecks of gold in her shiny eyes.

"Can you dance?" Haymitch asked as he drew her closer, one hand holding hers, his other resting on the small of her back.

"No, you?"

Haymitch shook his head faintly, smirking. "Please, show mercy if I step on your toes," He whispered into her dark long locks.

And here, dancing in the dark to an old romantic song under countless glittering stars, it happened. It wasn't planned, but it felt right in this precious, magical moment. Haymitch's lips brushed tenderly across hers. It wasn't more than the wing beat of a butterfly, but for Katniss it seemed as if she'd been waiting for it her whole lifetime.

An electric shock went through her body and before she knew what she was doing, she kissed him back. Fiery, passionate. He nearly lost his balance as she stepped resolutely up to him, her clumsy hands finding their way under his shirt.

"Woah, Katniss, slow down," He said, amused, his eyes glittering.

To her frustration, he caught hold of her eager hands easily. She was starving and he tasted like sweet summer peaches. How could this be wrong? She'd never felt like this before.

"Sweetheart, hold on."

"No!" Not here, not now, she thought. "Kiss me," She begged, sounding more desperate than she would ever admit.

Her despairing words drew a chuckle from his thin lips. "And here I was thinking you were an old-fashioned prude."

"I am not a prude," She said breathlessly, glaring at him. "But up till now, I never kissed the right guy."

Gently, he released her hands and moved his thumb over her sensual red lips. "Could be, sweetheart, could be."

…

Haymitch reached out, pulling her closer to his strong chest, and tenderly kissed her tousled hair. Moving slowly on, he placed soft kisses along her long neck, her collarbone, then leaned over her shoulder to kiss her delicate shoulder-blade. As his hands touched her firm breasts, circling the tops with his fingers, she pressed herself against him, moaning, craving more. It felt so much better than anything she had experienced before.

"Could you do me a favour?" He whispered softly into her ear.

"Mm?"

"Don't scream my name as loud as last night, we still have to check out, could be a little bit embarrassing."

She turned her head, staring at him, totally shocked. What had she done? She could not remember.

He smirked, the cheekiest grin she had ever seen. "You wouldn't recognize a joke if it bit you on your pretty little ass, would you, sweetheart?"

"You are such a jerk!" With a fiery glint in her eyes she tried to hit him.

Haymitch was faster, stronger and caught her wrist easily. "Love your fire," He whispered into her ear. His breath was warm against her chilled skin; it felt fantastic.

"Kiss me," Katniss begged, breathless, full of desire for his touch, trying to free herself helplessly from his iron grip.

Chuckling, he gently released her hands, teasingly running his fingertips over her slender body down to her thighs, knowing exactly where to find her sensitive spots.

"As you wish, sweetheart."

How could he have so much luck? He had never thought that a girl as brave and beautiful as Katniss could be waiting for him. Bit by bit he had literally fallen in love with her.

Coming home would be a challenge; that was certain. He had no idea how her family would react to their relationship. But he felt certain that Katniss's little sister and his best friend would be on their side.

Finally, he pushed the dark thoughts away, kissing Katniss passionately, swearing to himself that no matter what he would never give her up.

 _Fin_


End file.
